Stay Ahead of Project Chaos with a Clear Demand Management Strategy
Let me paint you a familiar picture.
A stakeholder pops into your inbox: “Hey, we’ve got an idea for a new project. Can you help?”
Another catches you in the hallway with a request that “shouldn’t be too hard.”
And a third drops a casual mention during a meeting: “We really need to get this done before the next quarter.”
If you’ve ever worked in a PMO, you know this game all too well. Ideas arrive informally, randomly, and constantly. Some are legitimate projects with strategic impact. Others… are not. They’re operational tasks. Small departmental improvements. Or sometimes just someone’s pet project that lacks any real business value.
And here’s the trap: without a structured intake process, the PMO becomes the dumping ground for everything. You’re stuck chasing requests, sorting through noise, and fighting fires—while the real, valuable work gets delayed.
The Real Problem Isn’t the Ideas. It’s the Lack of Process.
Most PMOs don’t fail because they don’t work hard enough. They fail because they’re overwhelmed by the sheer volume of work that shouldn’t even be in their pipeline.
The problem isn’t the people asking. From their perspective, everything feels like a project. But the PMO’s job isn’t to say yes to everything. It’s to figure out what truly deserves project management support—and what doesn’t.
And the way to do that isn’t by making stakeholders fill out 20-page forms or sit through lengthy approval meetings. It’s about creating a simple demand management process that filters noise from opportunity.
A Simpler Approach to Project Intake — One That Actually Works
When I help PMOs build this process, I always start with the same principle: “Make it easy for people to submit ideas—but structured enough for the PMO to decide if it belongs on the project list.”
This isn’t about gathering perfect estimates upfront. Let’s be honest: the requestor has no idea what the budget or timeline is yet. That’s what the business case process is for.
Instead, the intake focuses on one thing: understanding the organizational impact.
Because that’s the real question. Is this a simple task the department can handle themselves? Or does it cut across multiple teams, require vendor coordination, introduce new processes, or impact customers?
The Right Questions Make All the Difference
A good intake form doesn’t ask for budget. It asks:
- Does this impact multiple teams or departments?
- Will it affect external customers or partners?
- Are third-party vendors involved?
- Does it introduce new technology or business processes—or change existing ones significantly?
- Is it driven by regulatory or compliance needs, with a time-sensitive deadline?
- Does it align with the company’s strategic goals?
- Are there tangible business benefits like revenue growth, cost savings, risk reduction, or improved customer experience?
- And maybe the most revealing question: Does your department have the resources and budget to deliver this without project management support?
When you frame the questions this way, something interesting happens. Stakeholders start to self-assess. Some realize, “Actually, this isn’t a project. This is something we can handle internally.” Others confirm, “Yes, this touches five teams, impacts customers, and we don’t have the bandwidth to lead it.”
Suddenly, the PMO isn’t the admin team for every request. You become the gatekeeper for work that truly requires coordination, oversight, and structured delivery.
Then Comes the Triage
Of course, even with a clean intake, the PMO still needs to review what comes in. But here’s the key: this review isn’t a guessing game.
You’re no longer asking, “Does this feel big?” or “Should we do this?”
You’re reviewing clear indicators of impact. If it affects multiple departments, touches customers, involves vendors, or introduces significant change—it probably needs project management support. If not, it might be routed back as a departmental initiative.
And yes, you can—and should—automate part of this. Because you are comparing project ideas with the same framework, simple workflows in tools like Smartsheet can flag submissions that check multiple impact boxes.
No PMO Should Make These Decisions Alone
This is where most PMOs trip up. They try to do all the filtering themselves. And then, inevitably, someone asks, “Who decided this isn’t a priority?”
The better approach is to bring in a cross-functional review group. Small. Agile. Practical. A mix of PMO, Finance, Strategy, and leaders from key operational areas.
This group meets regularly—monthly or quarterly—to look at the triaged ideas. Not to debate whether the PMO likes them, but to answer a more important question: “Does this idea deserve to move forward to a business case?”
This isn’t an execution meeting. It’s a filter. Ideas that pass go to the next step—where timelines, budgets, and full plans are developed. The ones that don’t? They’re either deferred, declined, or handled as operational work.
You are not getting ready to execute anything yet. You are just deciding which project ideas have the potential to become a project and will offer support to work with the business to develop a solid business case (In my experience, I found that quality suffers when the PMO does not support the business case process, but most PMOs don’t have the bandwidth to support too many business cases. Hence the importance of this initial screening process. Obviously, this may vary from organization to organization).
The Real Payoff
When PMOs work this way, something powerful happens.
✔️ You stop being overwhelmed by noise.
✔️ You focus your attention to one master list of project ideas
✔️ You focus your time and resources on initiatives that actually matter.
✔️ The PMO’s credibility rises—because stakeholders see that you’re driving strategy, not just managing tasks.
✔️ And perhaps most importantly, you create a transparent process that everyone trusts. No more secret decisions. No more confusion about why something is or isn’t a project.
Start Simple. Grow Over Time.
This isn’t a process that requires months to set up. You don’t need an enterprise tool or a six-month project to launch it.
Start with the intake form. Focus it on organizational impact.
Run a lightweight triage meeting internally.
Then bring in the cross-functional group as volume grows.
Keep it simple. Keep it focused. And watch how quickly it changes how work flows into your PMO—and how much more strategic your PMO starts to feel.
💡 Want to build this inside your organization?
That’s exactly what I help PMOs do. If you’re ready to design a demand management process that works—without the complexity—let’s talk.
